Stump Stabbers both look and sound like scary insects, but they are actually gentle giants of the wasp world. In this article, we look more closely at these insects.
The Stump Stabber is better known as the Giant Ichneumon Wasp.
This freaky-looking giant insect with a long ovipositor might just be the perfect example of not judging someone by their appearance.
So today, let us tell you about the stump stabber wasp and the origin behind its name.
What Are Stump Stabbers?
A large wasp that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie, the Giant Ichneumon wasp, also goes by called a stump stabber.
People often mistake their 4-inch-long ovipositor for stingers and assume that they must be dangerous insects.
On the contrary, these wasps are unable to sting or bite humans. They do not harm us in any way.
They use the ovipositor to drill holes in trees to lay their eggs on a pigeon’s horntail. That’s where the name “stump stabber” and the rather unfortunate “stump fucker” comes from.
Let’s talk about why they do this.
Why Do They Bore Holes in Trees?
The stump stabbers have a strange but fascinating way of rearing their young.
Female stump stabbers use their antennae to track pigeon horntail and similar kinds of wood wasp larvae, who are the chosen hosts for these parasitoid larvae.
The wood wasp larvae are mainly found chewing away wood and rotting it from the inside.
The process of laying eggs starts with the mother stump stabber boring tiny holes in trees using their long ovipositors.
She precision drills the bark, and when she finally reaches the larvae, she slowly starts transferring her eggs from its body onto the pigeon horntails.
The eggs left behind hatch and start to feed on the horntail larvae.
They soon start growing larger and healthier, staying and pupating inside the wood throughout the winter.
This well-nourished new adult wasp emerges in the spring to carry on the life cycle of the stump stabbers.
What Do These Wasps Look Like?
A female stump stabber can grow up to 2 inches long. They have black, orange, or white strips on a reddish-brown body.
The ovipositor is an extension protruding out from the wasp’s body that can grow to at least 4 inches long.
The males do not have an ovipositor or a stinger, and they are only about half and inch in size.
What Does The Ovipositor Look Like?
The ovipositor of the female stump stabbers has evolved with the dual purpose of boring wood and laying eggs.
This long tube-like structure can reach upto 4 inches, going deep inside the wood.
The structure is divided into three main parts with interlocking strands and cutting tips.
The third part of the ovipositor is a tube that is used to transport the eggs from the wasp to the pigeon horntails.
Can Their Ovipositor Sting Humans?
If you notice the ovipositor of a stump stabber up close, it will look like a needle sticking out of the insect’s body.
But unlike the sting of wasps and bees, the wasp does not use it for stinging. And due to their three-part structure, it is not capable of stinging either.
The only purpose of the ovipositor is to drill holes into dead or rotten wood and deposit the eggs inside the trees.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a wasp with a long tail?
Wasps with a giant tails are known as the long-tailed giant ichneumon wasp, scientifically called Megarhyssa macrurus.
The females’ ichneumons have some of the longest ovipositors, upto 4-inches long. These creatures are most commonly found in Missouri, USA.
What kind of wasps live in Washington State?
There are a few different types of wasps that you can find in Washington state.
Yellow jackets, hornets, and paper wasps are the most common of the lot. There are also mud daubers, which are solitary wasps and tend to keep to themselves.
Can ichneumon wasp lay eggs in human?
Wasps cannot lay their eggs in humans, in fact there is only one known parasitoid that can lay its egg in humans – the hookworm.
The nature of parasitoid wasps is that they lay their eggs on the bodies of host insects.
They prey on an insect, paralyzing them and laying their eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the already paralyzed prey and derive the required nutrition.
Are ichneumon wasps rare?
No. They are known by a unique name like ichneumon wasp, but these stump stabbers are extremely common garden insects.
They belong to one of the most common wasp species in the world. These species are 60,000 to 100,000 in the number living in different environments across different terrains.
Wrap Up
While they may look scary, stump stabbers are harmless and elegant creatures. They are also beneficial insects since they feed on pigeon hornworms that eat trees from the inside making them hollow.
So if you spot one in your garden, know that they are probably finding a place for their new house. You can safely live in peace with them around your garden.
Thank you for reading!
63 Comments. Leave new
The species is Megarhyssa macrurus. 2 of the species in this genus are easily identifiable from their markings alone; M. greenei is distinguished by the absence of pigmentation along the basal vein.
Thanks Joseph. We have not known how to distinguish M. macrurus from M. greenei.
Oh my goodness! This must be what I saw the other day; I watched it fly from the woods and I said, “what the heck was that!”
This is a real long shot, but it is not entirely unheard of to have passed centipedes. It is thought that they may be ingested along with vegetable matter. Geophilus carpophagus has been removed from humans before, and it lookd fairly similar to the one in the picture. Check out the book “Sanitary Entomology” by William Dwight Pierce. It’s an old one, but it covers a few accounts like this. I’d never have thought it possible if I didn’t read it myself. It seems that the species in Geophilus are the most “common.”
Down here in Australia when someone is being overly sensitive and irritable we often ask; Well what’s crawled up your butt?
And now we know.
🙂
We have the same saying here stateside.
D: poor baby! i hope she’s feeling better! aren’t some centipedes venomous? could a small amount of venom be the cause of her negative symptoms?
Centipedes do have venom. We can only speculate on the potential of venom being the cause of the symptoms and we would have to defer to the medical community on that.
Has there been any follow up from this story? I am quite interested to hear the results.
We have heard nothing back from the originator of the question.
I (in my twenties) just removed a centipede from my bedroom, which got me interested in whether they can be parasites. My mom told me once that she found centipedes near me several times when I was young. Seems to much of a coincidence that other people also witnessed this. So I am very curious what the professional health care has concluded in this case.
Interesting, I noticed a “millipede” virtually identical to that one in my toilet tonight, given the clear nature of it I assumed it had passed through me. Maybe it was ingested with a salad or the like…
I had one go in my ear at night, and have been stung several times. Some I can see very well and other I can feel them but not see. I believe they are feeding off of me now, they go in every opening on your body, Im living this nightmare. Others need to be made aware of this.
hi Chris and Maren,
this is a Canadian stump stabber. it will not sting you but it could pierce your skin. it will drum its antennas on the dead or decaying wood looking for a grub. then it will insert its “stabber” and inject her eggs into the bug. when the eggs hatch they will eat the grub from inside out. then the babies will go and fly away.
Nathan
age: 12
nathanbrown@gmail.com
Thank you for your insightful comment Nathan.
hi Chris and Maren,
this is a Canadian stump stabber. it will not sting you but it could pierce your skin. it will drum its antennas on the dead or decaying wood looking for a grub. then it will insert its “stabber” and inject her eggs into the bug. when the eggs hatch they will eat the grub from inside out. then the babies will go and fly away.
Nathan
age: 12
nathanbrown@gmail.com
your welcome
Please inform me and other readers how to get these centipedes out of our body. My father and I have centipedes of the type Lythobius Forficatus in our body. They leave insect bites on the outside of our body sometimes (they are nocturnal preditorial scavangers) suggesting they are on the outside of your body but they are not (only to reproduce). The only way to be sure they are inside is by checking your feces, they leave markings in which the centipede shape is clearly visible. They also make clicking sounds in my throat in the morning like with the woman in India that had it taken out by doctors. The doctors have done a colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, PET scan and CT scan but found nothing, only something in my throat but after checking with a camera again they found nothing. This is because the centipedes shun the light, they run away from it. They are about 1,5 centimeters long. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET US KNOW HOW TO EXPEL THIS VERMIN FROM OUR BODIES VIA THIS WEBSITE also for other people that have them inside.
My fiancé is going thru the same thing. Can u please give us advise on what action we can take.
It is possible the Satanic Rockefellers with their eugenics program that have also tortured my mother to death with HAARP control them with Synthetic Telepathy. Hybrid insects are only there to cover up Synthetic Telepathy and the sending of ideas in your own inner voice with Synthetic Telepathy (Remote Neural Monitorring) and Silent Sound. The mainstream media is also urged to contact me to find a way to get these centipedes out of my and my fathers body. Please help!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for that fascinating update! I am so looking forward to all manner of life springing forth around here soon!
Wow, she is beautiful, but I am ever so curious how she ended up in the hand (what an honor), and how brave of Kasie to hold a creature before even knowing what it is… remarkable.
Perhaps Kasie will write back in and provide some additional information.
Just spotted one of these,and never seen such a thing.I live in East Berlin,Pa.Just thought I would write since I never seen one before around here cause I have wood lying around all the time,cause I burn wood.7/24/2014
I too have a possible centipede-in-stool story. My fit, sensible 82 year old father called me yesterday to say that he’d watched a creature crawl out of the stool he’d just passed in the loo. It hadn’t all flushed and he was just waiting for the cistern to refill for another attempt to flush when he saw something moving. In utter astonishment he watched as this worm-like thing crawled up the near vertical wall of the loo, across the shallower slope of the porcelain until it disappeared under the rim of the loo. He flushed the loo again but the creature didn’t come back out of the water hole. He described it to me as darkish slightly gingery brown, about 3 cm long (just over an inch), equal width all the way up, about 3mm, and it moved as though it had lots of legs under it, though he didn’t have a chance to catch it and check if it actually did have legs. The thing that has astonished him most is that it had antennae, two, at the front, which were possibly 1cm long and were pretty straight, i.e. not curved round. I have looked at various photos of all kinds of revolting intestinal parasites, and of centipedes and millipedes and from what he has clearly described and I have found I think he had a millipede emerge from his poo. I have told him to go to the doctor tomorrow for a stool test to seek out eggs. About a year ago he had an episode of severe, urgent and explosive diarrhoea for a few days and since then his intestinal health has not been quite as it was prior to this, which was put down to some kind of gastric ‘flu. However I now think that some kind of infestation could have happened, possibly due to ingesting millipede eggs from salad (?) or something of that ilk. Any thoughts from this forum would be gratefully received.
I had a similar story..
One of my patients came to me yesterday and showed my a video with similiar characters to what have you described. He had abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting for the last 2 weeks.
Stool sample as sent for analysis. Have you got any answer about your father stool analysis?
Mysterious, I haven’t seen like this before.
I have a copy of the video for any one interested.
Hi, I just got bit on my foot in bed. When I got up I saw this insect, which I have identified as an ichneumon wasp. It was pretty painful! So, yes they do sting!
Hi, I’ve been bit this morning in the shower (in the UK) by something that looks suspiciously like one. Are you still alive?
I have a very similar experience that just happened awhile ago and im so scared right now… hows your father now? Any findings on what it is? Hope all is well.
Hi Don,
Sorry to say that although my dad did give a stool sample to his GP he still has not had any results from it. In fact he has not heard back from them at all. However, he has just had a blood test for his thyroid function, which was due anyway, and when he goes in to pick up those results he will ask for his stool test results too. It is about one month since he provided them with the stool sample, and one month is long enough for anything to have shown itself, so if we don’t get some results soon I will be following this up myself. My dad is in London and I am in Sussex, so it is not straight forward for me to demand things from his doctors surgery, but I will do my best if necessary.
Can you describe what you saw? I know it is horrid and very disturbing, but it is probably worth writing it down in this forum, as you never know who might be able to either help identify the thing, or if not, like you have, report something similar, and anonymity is yours.
I should add, if you feel well (as my dad does) that is a very significant point. Don’t worry yourself into feeling ill will you!
Hi Don,
Sorry to say that although my dad did give a stool sample to his GP he still has not had any results from it. In fact he has not heard back from them at all. However, he has just had a blood test for his thyroid function, which was due anyway, and when he goes in to pick up those results he will ask for his stool test results too. It is about one month since he provided them with the stool sample, and one month is long enough for anything to have shown itself, so if we don’t get some results soon I will be following this up myself. My dad is in London and I am in Sussex, so it is not straight forward for me to demand things from his doctors surgery, but I will do my best if necessary.
Can you describe what you saw? I know it is horrid and very disturbing, but it is probably worth writing it down in this forum, as you never know who might be able to either help identify the thing, or if not, like you have, report something similar, and anonymity is yours.
I should add, if you feel well (as my dad does) that is a very significant point. Don’t worry yourself into feeling ill will you!
Hi there, I believe the guys that commented they have them because I have one in my nose right now an dont know what to do? Please , any help would be appreciated greatly! Have you or your husband been to Iraq or the mid east in the last ten years? I think mine are from being there because I have had a skin problem for ten years since I got back> Its been mis diagnosed so many times its hard to believe but finally a month ago I had flies growing out of me in my sores an I had hook worms so I started taking 400mg of albendazole . After taking the med for 15days the centipede just showed itself to me last night! Mine had 2eyes an I hear the clicking at night in my kitchen. So even though she shows no symtoms dont mean she is clear of everything an I say that because what ever this is , is very elusive ! I have a appointment w infectious disease next week an hope to find out something but so far the doctors an dermatologist Ive been to have not helped me at all!! I have read an researched every night trying to find the answers! by the way the meds im taking is only supposed to be took for three days an im on day 15.
just killed one in portugal not risking getting stung
Wish I did. I had the chance because I saw it sitting on the mirror before I got into the shower. Then whilst in the shower, I feel a sting on my back, I reacted by swatting my back and it falls into the shower tray – smothered it with shampoo and flushed it down the plug hole. It’s not like I disturbed it, it just decided to take a bite.
They actually look beautiful!
I live in Florida and have seen and heard of terrible stories about these multi-legged creatures. One form, called “earwigs” are known to slip into ears and crawl up butts! A few years back I was outside doing the yard and was under a low hanging tree for close to an hour, afterwards as I settled down inside after dark, I began to itch, right in the middle of my upper back. I thought it a bug, so I swatted at the area, and the itching stopped, only to intensify later. I check my back and discovered a low bump. Assuming I had been bitten, I took it for a sting, so I made a paste of meat tenderizer and a little water and spread it thickly over the area. I expected it to sting a little, but it got increasing annoying. Finally after a bout 2 hours or so, I took a shower. A few minutes after sudsing and rinsing, I noticed a “pede” of some type in the tub, rather large too, and that spot on my back was open! Apparently it buried into my skin. Most creatures that bury in skin, lay eggs… so I put more tenderizer on the area, but nothing exited. I may have evacuated it before it had a chance to lay eggs. Recently, I saw something similar in the toilet after a general detoxing program. The other day, I was having some urethral itching. I went to the toilet thinking I may have a UTI after the detox, but when I urinated, in the toilet was a small almost transparent “pede” looking thing there. We are constantly being invaded by all kinds of creatures that creep and crawl… eeww! Keep hydrated and detox regularly is my two cents
I have had severe abdominal pain for over 3 months now. Every possible test done but all clear. 2 weeks ago I passed what looked like string & what looked like bean sprout (neither had been eaten).
I took photo to doc who prescribed ovex. These helped as I passed literally thousands of worms.
I also passed a centipede type creature.
I an back to full illness now
Docs can’t figure it out .
Any ideas???
I have had severe abdominal pain for over 3 months now. Every possible test done but all clear. 2 weeks ago I passed what looked like string & what looked like bean sprout (neither had been eaten).
I took photo to doc who prescribed ovex. These helped as I passed literally thousands of worms.
I also passed a centipede type creature.
I an back to full illness now
Docs can’t figure it out .
Any ideas???
The centipedes are still in my and my fathers body. Several people have e mailed me with the same problem AND THEY WHERE MISDIAGNOSED AS WELL!
The centipedes actually came out of their body and they make rattling noises in my throat which I have recorded (HQ) and you can find more info on my youtube channel, ulrichbchoffmann on youtube.
A CENTIPEDE CURE IS NEEDED ALSO FOR ALL THESE PEOPLE THAT HAVE EMAILED ME AND PEOPLE MUST BE WARNED ABOUT CENTIPEDES!!!!!!!!iiiiiiiiii
A video of the types of centipedes that have entered and reproduced in humans (pseudo parasitic centipedes) is also found on my channel and the common house centipede is one of them. So do a bug check and never sleep in a house where you saw a centipede. They always travel in pairs and there is no cure yet. I offer a 150 $ reward for anyone with an effective cure. More is discussible.
The centipedes are still in my and my fathers body. Several people have e mailed me with the same problem AND THEY WHERE MISDIAGNOSED AS WELL!
The centipedes actually came out of their body and they make rattling noises in my throat which I have recorded (HQ) and you can find more info on my youtube channel, ulrichbchoffmann on youtube.
A CENTIPEDE CURE IS NEEDED ALSO FOR ALL THESE PEOPLE THAT HAVE EMAILED ME AND PEOPLE MUST BE WARNED ABOUT CENTIPEDES!!!!!!!!iiiiiiiiii
A video of the types of centipedes that have entered and reproduced in humans (pseudo parasitic centipedes) is also found on my channel and the common house centipede is one of them. So do a bug check and never sleep in a house where you saw a centipede. They always travel in pairs and there is no cure yet. I offer a 150 $ reward for anyone with an effective cure. More is discussible.
Can u send me a link to your YouTube channel? I can not find it … my email is jphyde84@gmail.com
I found one in my yard in Maine. June 2017. Can send pic.
I just casually reached out to rescue one that had landed on my computer screen, and as I cupped it in my hand, it stung me on my fingertip and it hurt like the dickens for several minutes. So now he’s still flying around my office somewhere, I’ll never sleep again.
Hi just want to ask, can a baby centipide crawl inside your anus? Omg. Im getting paranoid. Lastday i was at the bathroom and i saw a baby centipede on my legs oh my god. And im seeing 2 baby centipede on the floor too, im afraid now because maybe they can enter into my anus…………can anyone here advice me? Thank you!!!
In Washington State working for a wood bark and wood products company. I am the safety guy here and we have had 2 injuries due to insect bites. Both times they thought they had been stung by a bee. 2 days later severe swelling and red streaking from the arm down the side of the body. I have been told maybe a stump fucker (regional name I’m sure). Nobody has actually seen the insect doing to biting. Running a grinder , eating up softwoods mostly here. Is there a wood wasp that stings? Thanks.
Ok ,
Another case of the same kind of centipede hapoened to us yesterday in the clinic. The same creature had crwled out from a baby’s butt.
I can’t attach a photo here, but I have it on my phone.
Such a mystery.
Ok ,
Another case of the same kind of centipede hapoened to us yesterday in the clinic. The same creature had crwled out from a baby’s butt.
I can’t attach a photo here, but I have it on my phone.
Such a mystery.
We saw a tinny transparent centipede in a stoll of one puppy with diarrhea in Veterinary Hospital of one animal rescue in Canada. We confirmed by checking it on microscope. Everyone was shocked seeing this weird parasite! It looked different than regular centipedes, with rudimentary eyes and legs, but long tail divided in two equal parts – double tail, and segmented body. Tinny internal organs of that transparent creature were visible – intestines and other organs, there were not many. A head was very small.
Are there any esearchers that know more about this parasitic form of centipedes?
We saw a tinny transparent centipede in a stoll of one puppy with diarrhea in Veterinary Hospital of one animal rescue in Canada. We confirmed by checking it on microscope. Everyone was shocked seeing this weird parasite! It looked different than regular centipedes, with rudimentary eyes and legs, but long tail divided in two equal parts – double tail, and segmented body. Tinny internal organs of that transparent creature were visible – intestines and other organs, there were not many. A head was very small.
Are there any esearchers that know more about this parasitic form of centipedes?
I am in shock of how crazy I sound when I talk anbout this with ano9ther person, so to tell my doctor I fret andi haven’t. this post is everything my thoughts are but others typing it.i hear clicking in my throat and feel like something is sitting/resting there perhaps relaxing and breathing almost. I feel it doing somresaults in my butt. I hear constant buzzing and when I feel like I need to go to the bathroom I rush and then when I sit down its a painful pinching and then the sumersaulting again. ive pulled hair out that wasn’t mine that looked like a rabit and now im wondering is this a carnivore. it felt like it were. but is it feeding on something larger and growing, somedays I feel like it left me, and its over, but then ill slumber and upon waking its worse then it was. like it returned while I was aslpeep. what is it? that’s the worst part. wand when its bad its really bad. and if it moves up my body I feel like im ripping and when I feel it on my back if it doesn’t sting me it feels like its burnig me or when I look there later there are markings like a scratch from a dog along my back but lots of times their horizontally cut and so thin like angel hair thin the only reason I even see them is cause I will feel it then get realllly close to the mirror and then I see it. but then I wonder if it is a scratch or if its the worm millipede thing cuz if I run it I feel llke it starts to moveish and come off but if it were a scab it would chip off and rebled it never bleeds it just like crumbs into a blackish blue looking resin substance I feel like its eggs cause their always the same size when I roll them up and it will be like a few of th
im not sure if a centipede is inside my body, because when i was urinating, then i look at the toilet bowl, it has a small centipede, which im not sure if it came out of me, i always checked the toilet bowl when i am going to pee, but this time im not really sure, im scared, i read a lot of the comments, and it looks like there are no symptoms if you have it in you, also im reading about centipedes, they cannot repopulate unless their is only 1 centipede in your body, but im not sure if its only one, because the one i saw is a baby, i will monitor myself for 3 days, then i will get a fecalysis and urinalysis to be sure. this is frightening. 🙁
A few days ago I passed a parasite that looked like the thing in the picture. I do internal cleanses and took a probiotic. I also decreased my sugar about the same time. Early in the morning, I used the restroom. A critter that looked like the one pictured fell into the toilet. It moved for seconds. I wanted to scream. I couldnt find anything on the web that looked like it.
One of these rather amazing looking bugs flew into my house last night here in France. Are they dangerous to woodwork?
We suspect you had a different species. Ichneumons will not damage woodwork.
The living centipedes found in the toilet almost certainly crawled onto the toilet bowl and fell in. Centipedes do not have the ability to survive human stomach acid and digestive enzymes. The child in the original post and one commenter seem to have accidentally ingested the centipedes and passed the exoskeleton, hence the clear color. Young children put all kinds of things in their mouths, so I suspect that’s how she got it inside of her.
Centipedes like to hide in dark places, but will avoid large animals if they can. They will occasionally hide in sleeves, shoes, or pant legs. When frightened, like when you try to chase them off your body, some species can and will bite (some are not physically capable of biting through human skin), and many have venom that stings. They are not climbing your leg to access your nether regions. They are simply too stupid to know the tunnel they hid in was human clothing. Rodents will sometimes run up pant legs, too, when they’re scared.
The organisms that do deliberately enter the human body, like bot fly, guinea worm, etc., have adaptations for doing so, and there is substantial, not rare anecdotal, evidence of them doing so. The individuals experiencing sensations that feel like creatures inside their bodies should see their doctors but be open to other possibilities than infestation. If they’re insistent that it’s an infestation, evidence needs to be collected, like photographs of lesions, discharge collected into sterile containers and refrigerated until a doctor can test them, detailed diaries of diet, habits, and when the crawly sensations occur, etc. Very few doctors will take “because it feels like bugs” as real evidence of infestation, especially if there is no clinical/scientific history of that particular creature deliberately infesting a human, vs. accidentally being eaten or hiding in an open orifice. Detailed and complete data and evidence collection will help diagnose if an infestation is occurring and is simply very rare and to determine if there is another condition or conditions causing symptoms.
The living centipedes found in the toilet almost certainly crawled onto the toilet bowl and fell in. Centipedes do not have the ability to survive human stomach acid and digestive enzymes. The child in the original post and one commenter seem to have accidentally ingested the centipedes and passed the exoskeleton, hence the clear color. Young children put all kinds of things in their mouths, so I suspect that’s how she got it inside of her.
Centipedes like to hide in dark places, but will avoid large animals if they can. They will occasionally hide in sleeves, shoes, or pant legs. When frightened, like when you try to chase them off your body, some species can and will bite (some are not physically capable of biting through human skin), and many have venom that stings. They are not climbing your leg to access your nether regions. They are simply too stupid to know the tunnel they hid in was human clothing. Rodents will sometimes run up pant legs, too, when they’re scared.
The organisms that do deliberately enter the human body, like bot fly, guinea worm, etc., have adaptations for doing so, and there is substantial, not rare anecdotal, evidence of them doing so. The individuals experiencing sensations that feel like creatures inside their bodies should see their doctors but be open to other possibilities than infestation. If they’re insistent that it’s an infestation, evidence needs to be collected, like photographs of lesions, discharge collected into sterile containers and refrigerated until a doctor can test them, detailed diaries of diet, habits, and when the crawly sensations occur, etc. Very few doctors will take “because it feels like bugs” as real evidence of infestation, especially if there is no clinical/scientific history of that particular creature deliberately infesting a human, vs. accidentally being eaten or hiding in an open orifice. Detailed and complete data and evidence collection will help diagnose if an infestation is occurring and is simply very rare and to determine if there is another condition or conditions causing symptoms.
I was stung by one recently, they’ve been hanging @ my front porch at night and one fell down the back of my sweater, stung me three or four times. Angry lil guy… or girl, i’ll report back if larvae ttry to eat me!
BTW, Calamine took care of the pain. Sting was minor, less painful than a bee.
Also, i’m leaving the accidental T in for dramatic effect.
I was stung by one recently, they’ve been hanging @ my front porch at night and one fell down the back of my sweater, stung me three or four times. Angry lil guy… or girl, i’ll report back if larvae ttry to eat me!
BTW, Calamine took care of the pain. Sting was minor, less painful than a bee.
Also, i’m leaving the accidental T in for dramatic effect.
Just found one in our apartment in Salt Lake City, Utah. I figured it was a wasp of some kind, so we didn’t risk leaving it in the house. My wife accidentally injured it, but I took it outside anyway. Didn’t want to risk getting stung.
I saw one of these wasps inside the window screen; it had been there overnight. I always rescue insects (except mosquitoes), so I picked it up by its wings. It curved its stinger to reach my finger and started to sting me. I quickly let go and removed it with a piece of cardboard. Yes, they do sting humans.
One of these buggers stung me… it got into my semi and stung me before I was able to kill it.
Those are awesome! I have only seen them twice. Definitely an insect to remember! On Cottonwood logs, by the river.
Dear What’s That Bug
I am happy to tell some good news.
I am an older person and have a caregiver. We live in the country, on the Banks of the Tumbling Parus.
Insects are part of everyday life.
We have some good bugs. My caregiver used to be afraid of them. She still has arachnophobia. But now she has started taking pictures of them, so she can hear my stories.
She wants to know if they are dangerous and what do they eat.
This is great! Just a year ago, if she saw a big bug,she would have killed it and went to the fainting couch.
This year, she took pictures of our local Dynastes, and something she called an ant beetle. A colorful little fellow.
This is so wonderful to see.